Jacek Kurski

Jacek Kurski
Member of the European Parliament
In office
14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014
ConstituencyPodlaskie and Warmian-Masurian
Member of the Sejm
In office
25 September 2005 – 10 June 2009
Constituency25 – Gdańsk
Personal details
Born (1966-02-22) 22 February 1966 (age 58)
Gdańsk, Poland
Political partyLaw and Justice
Other political
affiliations		United Poland

Jacek Olgierd Kurski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjat͡sɛk ˈkurskʲi], born 22 February 1966 in Gdańsk) is a Polish politician and journalist who has been described as a "spin doctor" for the national-conservative PiS party.[1][2]

Political career

Kurski was first elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 26,446 votes in 25 – Gdańsk as a member of the Law and Justice party. He was re-elected in the October 2007 vote and served until 2009 in this capacity.

Kurski was elected to Member of the European Parliament where he served from 2009 to 2014. On 8 September 2010, Kurski was the only MEP to vote against a condemnation by the European Parliament of the execution of Iranian national Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani by stoning. Kurski stated that he voted against by error, and he corrected his vote almost immediately.[3]

He then returned to the Sejm where he served as State Undersecretary for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for two years.

President of Telewizja Polska

In January 2016, Kurski became President of Telewizja Polska. In July 2016 Politico Europe criticized the state broadcaster for strong pro-government bias.[4] He left the network in 2022 after turning it into a propaganda vehicle for the nationalist PiS party according to critics.[5]

World Bank

In December 2022, he was appointed as Poland's representative to the World Bank.[6] He had no prior finance experience.[6][7] He was dismissed from this role in 2023.[8]

Private life

Kurski is the son of scientist and shipbuilder Witold Kurski[9] and Solidarity activist and senator Anna Kurska, as well as the younger brother of Jarosław Kurski who is a Gazeta Wyborcza journalist.

In 1991, he married Monika Mucek.[10] They had three children together: Zdzisław (b. 1991), Zuzanna (b. 1994) and Olgierd (b. 2007).[11] They divorced in 2015.[12]

On July 31, 2018 he remarried to Joanna Wąsowska primo voto Klimek (b. 1974).[13] On July 18th, 2020, after his and Joanna's previous church weddings were anulled, they held a church wedding at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Kraków. The event was criticized in the media for being less private and more political, even state-oriented, and was pointed to as evidence of undesirable ties between state power, the media it manages and the Catholic Church, and the impossibility of obtaining an annulment of the marriage by those not connected with the government was raised.[14]

From their marriage, on March 25, 2021, a daughter, Anna Klara Theodora, was born.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kurski: spin doktor? To degradujące dla człowieka o moich horyzontach". Wprost (in Polish). 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  2. ^ "Poland Picks Former Ruling-Party Spin Doctor for World Bank Role". Bloomberg.com. 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  3. ^ Antkiewicz, Łukasz (10 September 2010). "Szwedzkie media wytykają Kurskiemu: "Głosował przeciw Irance". Kurski: Pomyliłem głosowania" [Swedish media accuse Kurski: "He voted against the Iranian". Kurski: I confused the votings] (in Polish). TOK FM. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  4. ^ CIENSKI, JAN (2016-07-11). "Polish media veers back to pre-1989". POLITICO. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  5. ^ "Poland dismisses its representative at World Bank, drawing central bank rebuke". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  6. ^ a b "Poland Picks Former Ruling-Party Spin Doctor for World Bank Role". Bloomberg. 7 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Fired state TV chief's World Bank job shocks many in Poland". Associated Press News. 7 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Poland's gov't dismisses Jacek Kurski from role at World Bank - PM".
  9. ^ "Przekroj.pl - ludzie, sylwetki". 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  10. ^ Dziennik Bałtycki, 1991, nr 87, Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Prasowe RSW "Prasa - Książka - Ruch", 1991-04-13, retrieved 2024-03-30
  11. ^ "Mama została odznaczona przez Andrzeja Dudę, a bracia od lat są po dwóch stronach "barykady". Oto historia rodziny Kurskich". Plejada (in Polish). 2020-07-24. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  12. ^ "Kurski zamieścił na Twitterze oświadczenie byłej żony. "Życzę powodzenia"". Onet Wiadomości (in Polish). 2015-04-29. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  13. ^ "Kurski się ożenił. Ślub cywilny i "przyrzeczenie miłości" - Do Rzeczy". 2018-07-31. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  14. ^ Dąbrowska, Anna; Podgórska, Joanna (2020-07-28). "Jacek Kurski: cichy zwycięzca prezydenckich wyborów". www.polityka.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  15. ^ "Jacek Kurski został ojcem. "Anna Klara Teodora jest już z nami na świecie" - mówi Faktowi dumny tata". Fakt.pl (in Polish). 2021-03-25. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
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